Raceway ratchet limiter

ABSTRACT

A clicker ratchet limiter is a mechanical device that allows one part to move a defined distance relative to another by means of a linkage moving around a closed circuit track with a minimum and maximum position, and by means of a captured spring to allow for propulsion of the linkage around the track. One part, the anchor, is fastened to an anchoring object, leaving the top part to move between a minimum and maximum displacement position. Switching between positions is effected by compressing an internal coil spring by pressing down on the top part. The linkage device is a ratchet but not robust to pulling of the top off of the anchored anchor part. A hook and step displacement limiter is provided within each raceway pair of rib and inverted rib on the anchor and top part, respectively, to prevent pulling off of the top.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

No cross reference is made to other applications.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OF DEVELOPMENT

No Federal Government support was received in the development of this Invention.

SEQUENCE LISTING, TABLE, OR COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING

No sequence listing, table, or computer program is attached or accompanies this Application.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present Invention relates generally to fasteners, and more particularly to ratcheting fasteners connecting an anchor to a moving part and limiting the displacement of the moving part from a minimum displacement position to a maximum displacement position. A fastener is defined as an object that fixes at least two parts together by a plurality of means. A ratchet is a mechanical device that allows continuous rotary motion in only one direction while preventing motion in the opposite direction. In this Invention, the clicker ratchet developed for the magnetic cabinet door latch forms the core of the fastening device. Said clicker ratchet has been used for decades in a variety of devices, including drain closures for vessels. Said clicker ratchet comprises a generally cylindrical anchor and a top comprising a generally cylindrical sleeve, with a plurality of wire forms and springs to bind the two pieces together. Assembly of said two pieces is done such that the central longitudinal axes of both cylinders are coincident, with the sleeve of the top fitting over the anchor. Said top displaces in said central axis. Said anchor bears a closed circuit track inscribed into a generally planar flat formed into the side of the cylinder, said flat being parallel to the cylindrical axis of said anchor cylinder. Said anchor also bears one of a plurality of mounting devices to fix it to an immobile base. Said top bears a spring seat and one of a plurality of functionalities requiring ratcheted displacement, including magnets and seals. Ratcheted displacement in said clicker ratchet depends on the travel of a free leg of a staple shaped wire form within a closed circuit track formed into the anchor side, aided by the compression and propulsion of a coil spring positioned between the top and the anchor pieces. The terminus of the free leg distal to the staple back runs generally perpendicular to, and inside, the track in the anchor. The opposite leg is fixed, except for rotation, in a spring seat in said top piece, separate from said anchor. The long back of the staple is orientated generally parallel to the generally planar upper surface of the track in the anchor. The staple thus links the anchor to the top. The floor of this track is ramped and stepped to allow the flat end of one leg of a staple-shaped wire to pass in one direction about the track, but not reverse.

The action of a clicker ratchet involves travel of the free leg around a one-way, closed-loop track. Two stops in the track define the minimum and maximum displacement of the fastener. Pushing the top piece in a slidingly engaged fashion down over the anchor piece engages the free leg of the staple in a minimum displacement position. Pushing the top piece again disengages the free end of the link wire from the minimum displacement position and allows the free leg of the staple to travel around the track to a maximum displacement position. Pushing the top piece once again, once again results in the free leg being engaged in the minimum displacement position. This device allows for the anchor part of the clicker fastener to be attached to an anchoring object, including a kitchen cabinet or the secured portion of a bath drain, and the mobile top part of the clicker fastener to be attached to a second object bearing one of a plurality of functionalities dependent on said limited displacement. The descriptor clicker refers to the clicking sound of the link wire leg moving within the track when the top is depressed.

In order to prevent unintentional rotation of the top part in its cylindrical axis shared with the anchor part, a plurality of raceways are provided. Raceways comprise vertical ribs on the exterior surface of the anchor cylinder fitting into complementary vertical inverted ribs formed into the walls of the internal cylindrical void of the top part.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The clicker ratchet can be used as an anchored device, the position of the top part being adjustable between a minimum displacement and a maximum displacement by depressing the top in a sliding engagement over the anchor part. A device attached to the top part may be situated in an engaged and disengaged fashion corresponding to the minimum and maximum displacement. An example is a bath drain closure, where the bottom part of the clicker ratchet may be anchored using a screw mount to a bath drain fitting, whereas a seal-bearing top piece may be adjusted from closed to open position by pushing downward on the top, to form a sealing drain closure allowing bath water to be accumulated and drained in the bath.

A shortcoming of this ratchet is that the link wire is the only device preventing separation of the top part from the anchor part when the top is pulled in a direction coincident with the cylindrical axis of the cylindrical anchor part and away from the anchor. Said link wire is a weak breakage prevention device. This design flaw results in the breakage of the clicker drain closure when pulled vertically upward.

In contrast, the Invention presented in this Application provides a device for prevention of pulling off the top of the clicker ratchet. A hook and step displacement limiter provided in each raceway in the clicker ratchet prevents pulling off of the top.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This Application describes the device composed of a hook and step breakage prevention device provided in an anchored clicker ratchet assembly. The assembly comprises an anchored cylinder fitted with a top composed of a cylindrical sleeve. In between these two cylinders are located various necessary devices. A coil spring is mounted in the upper portion of the anchor cylinder to provide propulsion when the top is depressed. A staple-shaped link-wire has one leg trapped in a spring seat on the top, and the other leg travelling around a closed circuit ratcheting track formed into the side of the anchor cylinder. And a plurality of raceways formed in the fitting together of vertical ribs on the anchor cylinder running inside inverted vertical ribs formed into the inside wall of the cylindrical sleeve that is the overlying top. The hook and step breakage prevention device is a displacement limiter that prevents the top from being pulled off the bottom anchor piece by means of a hook provided in each vertical rib that catches on an internal step provided within each complementary inverted rib in the interior of the cylindrical sleeve comprising the top. Placement of the hook and step devices depends on the maximum displacement of the top piece relative to the anchor piece.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an isometric view of the clicker ratchet.

FIG. 2 shows a cutaway of a lateral view of the clicker ratchet, showing the link wire and ratchet track.

FIG. 3 shows a lateral view of a cross section of the clicker ratchet, showing the ratchet track from the underside.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The clicker ratchet illustrated in isometric view in FIG. 1 show a spring seat 1 for the upper leg 2 of a link wire that is inserted through a void 6 in the upper planar end 3 of the cylindrical top 7, said cylinder being decorated with an upper external thread 4 and a limiting flange 5 for attachment to a plurality of seal bearing devices. On the top part outer surface, an outer inverted rib 8 of a raceway accommodates a complementary rib 9 to provide for resistance against rotation of the top about its cylindrical axis. A threaded post 10 provides for anchoring to a substrate such as a bath drain.

In FIG. 2, a cutaway lateral view of the clicker ratchet shows internal mechanisms. The topmost end 11 of the top part of the clicker ratchet shows the spring seat 1 accommodating the upper leg 2 of the link wire 12. The bottom leg of the link wire travels around a track 13 incised into a planar flat formed into the side of the bottom anchor part. Said track comprises a downward segment 14, a minor upward segment 15, a minor downward segment 16, and a major upward segment 17.

In FIG. 3, a cross-section of the clicker ratchet shows the free end leg 21 of the link wire in the maximum displacement position 22 of the track 13, allowing for maximum displacement of the top part of the clicker ratchet relative to the anchored bottom part. The end leg 2 of the link wire is captured in spring seat 1, only allowing the rotation that enables the free end 21 to travel around the closed circuit track. If a separating force is applied to the top part, the ends 21 and 2 of the link wire provide weak resistance to the top part of the ratchet being pulled off the bottom part of the ratchet. The hook and step device provide in each raceway combination of rib 9 and inverted rib 8 is provided with a physical displacement limiter comprising a step stop 25 against which a hook 24 decorating the internal rib 9 is limited. The result of this limitation is that the top part resists being pulled off the bottom anchor part of the ratcheting assembly. Placement of the hook and step stop mechanism is determined by the maximum displacement position of the track displacement limiter. 

1. An anchored cylinder anchored by an underlying threaded post to a bath drain, wherein: a closed circuit track is inscribed in a vertical planar flat formed into the side of the cylinder, the floor of this track being ramped and stepped to allow the flat end of one leg of a staple-shaped wire-form to pass in one direction about the track, but not reverse.
 2. An anchored cylinder as claimed in claim 1, wherein: a ratchet comprises the anchored cylinder overlain by a cylindrical sleeve compressing a coil spring between the top of the cylinder and the underside of the cylindrical sleeve, and with the end of one leg of a staple-shaped linking wire captured in a seat feature in the top of the cylindrical sleeve and the end of the other leg of the linking wire travelling within the closed circuit track between a minimum displacement position of the overlying cylindrical sleeve relative to the anchored cylinder to a maximum displacement position, in a ratcheting, one-way direction.
 3. A ratchet as in claim 2, wherein: a plurality of raceways comprising vertical ribs on the anchored cylinder are accommodated by vertical inverted ribs in the internal surface of the cylindrical sleeve, said inverted ribs equipped with an internal step at the maximum displacement position of the cylindrical sleeve relative to the anchor, such that each step is limited by a hook decorating the vertical rib that is accommodated within the inverted rib. 